Chorizo

What is chorizo?

A coarsely textured, spiced pork sausage widely used in Spanish and Mexican cooking. It is made from chopped pork and red pepper and seasoned with chilli and paprika. Mexican chorizo is made with fresh pork, while Spanish chorizo uses smoked pork.

Chorizo can be bought as a whole sausage of either soft cooking chorizo – which must be cooked before eating – or a firmer, drier cured sausage that can be sliced and eaten without cooking. It is also sold thinly sliced, like salami, to be enjoyed raw as tapas.

Spanish chorizo gets its trademark smoky flavour and rich red colour from pimenton – smoked Spanish paprika – and is usually very spicy. Uncooked chorizo is softer to the touch and, when cooked, releases a delicious, spicy red oil. Often recipes using chorizo do not call for additional oil to be added to the pan as it provides its own.